| Game | Honor of the Samurai | Complexity | Low |
| Company | Hans Im Gluck/Gamewright | Time | 45 min |
| Setting | Feudal Japan | Players | 2-4 |
| Type | Card | Rating | 7.5 |
Honor of the Samurai is a cardgame set in feudal Japan. Players take the roles of the samurai trying to acquire honor and gain prestige amongst peers. The aim of the game is to be the first player to amass 400 honor points.
The game mechanics revolve around three central themes: honor, (military/martial) strength, ki (spirituality and wisdom). A player has two houses to maintain, namely his daimyo's and his. At the start of his turn, a player collects a number of honor points equal to the honor total of the posessions of his daimyo and his samurai.
During his turn, a player may perform several card actions, the actual number depending on the ki of the player. Each 3 ki allows the player to perform 1 action. Players draw cards and play posessions into the houses of both his daimyo and his samurai. There are a wide range of possessions: Armies, castles, house guards, influential wives, famous swords, gunpowder weapons, and even Noh Theatres! Each confers a different level of honor, strength and ki. In addition, there are 3 different kinds of ninja, allowing a player to steal possessions from other players or to assassinate another player or his daimyo.
After playing cards, a player may make a declaration: declaring his daimyo lord to be Shogun, attacking another player, making/breaking alliances and allying his (ronin) samurai with another player's daimyo.
A player may attack another by declaring so during the declaration phase. An attack may be made against the Shogun or another player whose lord has a castle. Therefore, it is important to consider if you have sufficient military strength before playing castles or declaring yourself Shogun. Combat is simple and is resolved by rolling dice, with the player with the largest total the winner. Each 3 strength score allows for 1 additional die roll. The player who loses a battle has his lord killed unless a "save face" card is played, with the accompanying loss of honor. When large armies are amassed, combat becomes wildly unpredictable, and must be undertaken for the best of reasons.
The standard game ends when a player acquires 400 honor points. Variants include setting a different number of honor points, a fixed time, etc.
A large part of the game is to strike a balance between the different requirements of honor, ki and strength: does one gather a massive army and declare oneself shogun, or acquire other possessions to gain the requisite honor points. Maybe a better alternative is to build up one's ki for multiple actions in the late game. Of course, the important factor is the hand one is dealt with.
When a daimyo is killed, the samurai becomes ronin, but keeps his own possessions. If a samurai is killed, he loses all his possessions, but keep his allegiance to his daimyo (a heir takes over). Therefore, it is imperative to spread possessions between the daimyo and samurai to avoid creating large juicy targets for other players.
A colorful game that is fun to play and has great components. Recommended!